Sunrise Sunset
by Onyx17
Summary: Away from the Nemesis, Thundercracker receives some unexpected company in the form of a patrolling Autobot femme. In a rare moment of camaraderie, guards are lowered, friendship reforms and an old flame stirs once again. Thundercracker/Arcee.


**Title: **Sunrise, Sunset

**Characters/Pairing: **Thundercracker / Arcee

Transformers © Hasbro

* * *

Thundercracker's regard towards his fellow Decepticons was generally reserved to a disinterested resignation that he simply had to _tolerate_ them. Bear working with them, living with them, being around them, if only for the sake of retaining his sanity.…. But then, there were the times when he really, _truly_ abhorred those thick-helmed slaggers. Times where their incessant need to be nothing short of dunces with guns pushed his patience a little too far. And it was in these instances that the Seeker made good use of his thrusters in one of his, by now, weekly solo flights away from base.

Today was just such an occasion.

The Seeker had practically bolted from the Nemesis. His need to escape from nothing short of an underwater prison had overridden his concern over what his comrades thought.

He scowled when a com. ping chirped into life. _Skywarp_. The Seeker would have loved nothing more than to ignore it, but knowing just how persistent the slagger was….

"What do you want?"he ground out through clenched dentas, sincerely hoping he sounded just as fragged off as he was.

"Slag TC! Where the frag did you disappear to? You know you're missing out on the celebratory high-grade don't ya?"His teammates ever loud, obnoxious voice crackled through the com. Thundercracker sighed.

"I just … had to get out of there for a while_" _he vaguely replied, gaze dropping to his own dark shadow chasing him along the expanse of choppy sea. An annoyed snort sounded from the other end of the com.

"You sure pick you're moments TC. First successful raid in a mega-cycle and you _'need to be alone'_?'The blue seeker scowled at the mocking tone his friend's voice took on.

"Look, I just don't feel like hanging around a room full of overcharged dumb-afts falling over their own pedes. Not to mention having to babysit _you_ when you get so wasted you can't make it back to your own fragging room"he snapped, speaking again before Skywarp's indignant retort could get past his vocaliser. "I don't care what you do. Go ahead and get drunk. Just leave me out of this one"

And with that he closed the com, quickly offlining all private communication systems. He didn't want to be getting whiny messages from an inebriated Skywarp four joors from now about how he was such an aft to him.

He then returned his attention back to the slick expanse in front of him, scanners humming in search of the nearest stretch of land he could cool his thrusters on. A soft beep and red dot indicated the closest spot less than a breems distance east of him.

* * *

With an elongated, smooth turn he altered his course; speed slowly dwindling as the day's events and lack of energon caught up with him.

The midday sun had moved and dimmed, its form slowly retreating over the far-off wet horizon. Thundercracker never quite understood how the light changed colour so incredibly at this time of the day; the piercing white of the afternoon bleeding into a myriad of reds, yellows and blues.

He sighed into the pink-transparent glass before tossing it over his shoulder. Within the time the Seeker had touched down on the cliff-top, a slowly growing pile of empty cubes had formed behind him. Just because he refused to embrace the social aspect of it didn't mean he was averse to enjoying the benefits of a raid well accomplished.

He reached down to the crate next to him, blindly groping for the fifth round of the night….or was it sixth? Pit, he didn't know and sure as slag didn't care. But a soft click complemented by a firm press to the back of his helm caused him to stop.

…_. Frag. _

"You do know littering is a federal offence in national parks?"

It was as though Primus had both smiled down and flipped him off at the same time. The guy must have had one fragged up sense of humour to have _her_ of all 'bots find him.

Still, the blue Seeker relaxed …. but only slightly. Past or not, there was no way he'd underestimate the capacity _this_ femme had.

"Fancy meeting you here" he calmly replied, very much aware of the guns barrel positioned directly in line for relieving him of his cerebral processors. A snort was heard from behind him.

"Yeah, meeting an Autobot in Autobot territory. What are the odds?" she dryly stated.

Thundercracker grunted a noncommittal sound, making the risky decision to complete his movement of grabbing and opening a fresh cube. It could go either way. One, it could frag her off and he gets his helm bashed by her gun. Two, she see's he isn't interested in fighting and stands down. Either or, the jet was just too tired (and quite possibly overcharged) to give a frag.

There was a brief moment of silence broken only by his sips and the rush of the tide from below. Finally, the pressure against his helm disappeared and he heard a soft shuffle of grass behind him.

"That vintage oil?"

He smirked, holding up his own partially full cube for her to see. There was only a nanoseconds hesitation before it was plucked from his hand. He shifted in his position as the femme stepped forwards and dumped herself onto the grass next to him; white legs left dangling over the cliffs grassy edge.

Taking a new helping from the crate, Thundercracker rose it in a minute gesture of solidarity; "Cheers"

Arcee gave a dry half-smile, her own cubes glass meeting his with a brief 'clink'. She thoughtfully swirled the syrupy pink liquid for a moment before neatly tipping back a small mouthful. The Seeker's own gaze was drawn back towards the vibrant panorama ahead of him.

"So…" He heard the sceptical mutter next to him. "Do I _want_ to know where you got all of this?"

He rose his shoulder in a lethargic shrug.

"Found it"

A dull clang rang out as the back of her left hand gently swatted his upper-arm. He chuckled, gaze shifting back to the femme.

"Took it from our stock back on the Nemesis" he answered honestly. Arcee raised an optic ridge. "…that was the result of a successful raid" She leant back on one hand, expression deadpan.

Thundercracker breathed a defeated laugh.

"…that we stole from the humans" he relented, chuckling at the over exaggerated optic roll it prompted. "You asked" Arcee snorted into her cube.

"Never learn do I?" she mumbled, though her optics twinkled with amusement.

Thundercracker refrained from commenting on her continuing to drink the energon; never let it be said that the Seeker lacked basic understanding of a femme's processor. He took a fresh swig from his own, optics flitting back to the sea.

They sat like that for some time as a strange yet familiar silence ebbed between them. The far off sunset sent a dreary red haze across the water right up to their pedes.

He tore his gaze from the faraway view at the telltale hiss an airlock opening. Arcee had apparently finished her cube, now tucking the empty glass into her subspace. Noticing his gaze she shrugged.

"Like I said, littering is prohibited here"

Thundercracker hummed disinterestedly, easily tossing his own empty cube over his shoulder to join the mound. He went to grab another from the crate only to have a pink foot block the way.

"And if that pile is anything to go by, I think you've had enough"

He tossed an annoyed look in her direction.

"Duly noted" He made another grab for the crate, but Arcee's foot pushed it out of reach.

"Ok, I'm _saying_ you've had enough" she tersely stated, "And there's no way I'm letting you get overcharged in this park. Primus knows the amount of destruction you could wreak on the place"

The beginnings of a frustrated growl rumbled within the Seeker's chassis, only to wither and die when that ever present nuisance known as his common-sense stirred. Defeated, he let himself flop back onto the grass.

"Any particular reason you haven't shot me yet? Or taken me prisoner for that matter?"

"Any particular reason you decided to set up your little picnic less than a mile from the Ark?" she casually shot back. A small, idle smile tugged at Thundercracker's lips.

"Touché"

Arcee breathed a small laugh, leaning back on her hands and looking out to the setting sun. The corners of her mouth upturned and she nodded once towards it.

"Nothing like that back on Cybertron"

The Seeker followed her gaze, hauling himself upright for a better view. He smiled slightly.

"Nope"

And that same silence from before descended on them once again, the rhythmic slosh of the tide from below the only sound to be heard. They both watched as the sun slowly receded over the sea, not even aware of the sparse distance between them until the tiny tap of metallic fingertips meeting broke the dreamtime.

Thundercracker started, his first instinct to mumble something incoherent and pull away. But there was something that stopped him from doing so….

Rather than jolting in surprise and making a hurried excuse to depart, Arcee's hand remained still. In fact, she didn't react at all.

Thundercracker was unsure at first. Had she even felt the contact? Should he risk it?

_Don't think. Just do! _

…..Ok. How the frag had _Skywarp_ managed to become his voice of reason? Oh, well. As the humans say, "c'est la vie" …. Whatever _that_ means.

Cautiously, the Seeker slowly moved his hand closer, fingers lightly brushing over hers. He almost flinched when her own, smaller servo grabbed his in one swift move. His optics flickered once before narrowing, the corner of his mouth quirking upwards. _Typical_.

Arcee smiled when he gently intertwined their fingers. Both sets of optics were still fixed to the steadily darkening sky ahead, though neither watching it. After a moment, the Seeker shifted closer to the femme. A micro-inch at first, testing the waters just in case she had a last minute change of spark.

_That_ thought was quickly discarded when she closed the remaining distance between the two of them and settled herself against his side. Thundercracker stiffened, but only for a second before relaxing. His arm released her hand and languidly wove its way round her waist. With a content ventilation she leant back into his wing, intakes slow and armour warm.

He smiled when her helm gently dropped back, fitting perfectly into the concave beneath his chin. Almost as though they were no different from all those vorns ago…

He sighed through his nose, hand smoothing haltingly down her far arm; pausing to note small changes here and there. Thin scars and depressions scattered randomly along its expanse, a small gritty patch (burned, most likely) just above the elbow joint, and a prominent increase in armour bulk decorating her vital cables.

"You got the warrior upgrades" he remarked casually. A small shrug shook her frame.

"We _are_ in a war" He couldn't help but grin fondly. All this time and she still came prepped with line after line of comments to render his previous point redundant.

Then he said something that threw the both of them through a loop.

"I've missed you"

The femme's backstrut, previously lax and pliable, stiffened faintly, though she made no move to escape from his hold just yet. For the barest nanoklick Thundercracker questioned the wisdom of what he'd just said. But then that old friend named common sense made itself known once again.

Yes, slag it! He _did_ miss her. What was so wrong with that?

He waited while Arcee sat immobile next to him.

"Me too" she finally admitted, tone surprisingly sure and even. Almost including the unspoken question "What should we do about it?"

Thundercracker vented a relieved gush of air from his intakes, arm ever so slightly tightening around her. He was surprised when this actually caused the femme to relax back into him.

"When was the last time we were both together like this?" he asked, though he knew. Knew the vorns, the mega-cycles, the joors, the breems, the kliks, and the nano-seconds. A little soppy? Not really. Inbuilt memory cores made that kind of thing quite easy for their species. But it didn't make the fact that he missed her any less true.

"A long time" she quietly supplied. The Seeker's hand slid further down her arm, coming to rest atop her own. She upturned it to firmly intertwine their digits.

"When are we likely to be together like this again?" He conveniently left out the "if ever" part. Like she said, it was war. For all they knew they could both be offline come morning.

Thundercracker felt a warm pulse in his spark when the femme tilted her helm, breath ghosting over his neck cables and murmured, "A long time"

He briefly offlined his optics when he felt lips press a slow gentle kiss to his jaw. He then manoeuvred the two of them so that they knelt facing one another, though his hand remained firmly knotted with hers. The Seeker gently ghosted his fingers down her faceplates, coming to a stop on her chin.

"I think we should make the most of it, don't you?"

Arcee smiled, optics and faceplates tinged red with the far off glow seeping from the sunset.

"Just shut up and kiss me"

Thundercracker smirked. Primus, he really did miss her.

* * *

**A/N: **And here I said I'd never become a hopeless romantic =S Yeesh, was I wrong. Though I guess fanfiction and a lack of a boyfriend will do that to you eh?

Aaaaaaanyways, this is a oneshot done for Lecidre on DA as a thanks for the a-ma-sing illustration she did for Sugar and Spice! [ .com/art/Formal-Introduction-163096901 ] So awesome X3

She loves crack pairings (Thundercracker/Arcee being one of her favs), so I decided to do this for her! It's my first shot at the couple and I must say, it does seem to have many possibilities for cuteness/ hilarity. Especially when set alongside Skywarp/Moonracer. Them being all silly and dopey-in-love, and these two being all calm, collected and sensible. [Meanwhile 'Screamers left being a fifth wheel XD]

BTW in case you didn't already catch it, here TC and RC used to be a couple before the war. That's why they… yeah, you get it XD

Hope you like, Lecidre [hugs] x3333


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